


Down the Labyrinth

by kanakan



Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Other, careful how you research kids, it can break your brain, this is what happens when you do research for four hours straight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-29 23:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10864002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanakan/pseuds/kanakan
Summary: Getting out of a magical labyrinth is hard enough. Doing it with people you hardly know - let alone like - is near impossible. But these guys have beaten the odds before.





	Down the Labyrinth

Syo trudged along through the undergrowth. Next to him, Natsuki strode through the brushwood easily, cheerfully humming a little tune. He used a spear - one that was almost as tall as he was - as a walking stick.

“Alright, I think we’re almost there…” Syo muttered. He paused for a moment to focus. Towards the south, he felt a strong malevolent aura. “Either that, or we’re dealing with a lot more bandits than we thought.” Natsuki shook his head.

“No, we have the right number.” He paused. “At least, I think we do.” He took a wooden whistle off of a clip on his belt. He blew on it. It didn’t seem to make a sound. However, a few seconds later, a medium-sized dog trotted up to them. Natsuki knelt down and gently ruffled the dog’s soft brown fur. “Elizabeth, how many bandits do you smell?” Elizabeth barked twice, then looked south. Her floppy ears were pricked forward; she seemed focused on some sound that neither Natsuki nor Syo could hear. Natsuki looked up at Syo. “We have the right number.” Syo scratched the back of his head.

“I don’t know if that’s much of a consolation or not.” He glanced around the area, scanning for potential unwanted eavesdroppers. “I mean, there are supposed to be around fifty of those guys, from what we heard at the village. Well-armed too. I kinda wish that we had arrived before they had thought to raid the armory.” He sighed. “Well, nothing we can do about that now. Let’s see this bandit camp for ourselves, then get back to the others.”

They started moving forward again. Every few seconds, one of them would pause and mark down a noticeable landmark on their map. Soon, though, Syo noticed that Natsuki was staring at him. Smiling. Things didn’t usually end well for Syo when Natsuki was smiling at him.

“...what?” he asked defensively. Natsuki beamed.

“I was just thinking that Syo-chan is very, very cute when he’s serious!” he exclaimed. 

“I am not cute!” Syo barked. “I am manly.” Natsuki chuckled lightly. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Syo-chan is cute when he’s angry, too!”

“Now, listen, you-”

“Well, well, what do you have here?”

Syo and Natsuki looked forward. During their conversation, they had unwittingly wandered into a small clearing. Surrounding them was a large group of men. Each one of the men was equipped with leather armor and a sword. One, however, had steel armor, and a greatsword strapped to his waist and a battle axe strapped to his back. Syo glanced behind them. A number of the men had already circled around, cutting off any possible escape routes.

“Well, it looks like we found the bandits’ camp.” He removed his shield from his back - strapping it onto his left arm - and drew his longsword. “Crap.”

Natsuki readied his spear. Elizabeth was next to him, ears back and teeth exposed. She was snarling at the bandits fiercely. 

“Elizabeth,” he whispered. She stopped growling and looked towards him. He nodded firmly to her. She sat back on her haunches and howled. It was a long, haunting note, that carried over the treetops in all directions. Natsuki glanced at Syo. “Hopefully, they heard that. But until they get here…” Syo nodded, raising his shield and sword.

“We’ll have to take care of ourselves.”

 

“When will they get back…?”

Tokiya glanced up. Otoya was idly leaning against a tree, whittling a stick with a short dagger. Tokiya sighed and looked back to his spell book.

“The camp is only about a mile away,” Masato said from the campfire. He was stirring a large pot; a warm, meaty smell drifted out of it. “Even taking into account that they were avoiding the path, they should be back soon.” Otoya nodded and went back to his work. 

A low, keening howl resonated in the distance. Everyone looked up at the sound.

“That sounded like Elizabeth,” Cecil said, frowning. “But weren’t they supposed to come back…?”

“They were,” Ren replied, standing up quickly. “If they’re trying to signal us…”

Everyone dropped what they were doing and sprang into action. Masato doused the fire and ran over to his whitish-gray horse. Tokiya was already removing supplies from the horse’s back. Ren and Cecil took to the trees; Cecil moved with unnatural cat-like grace, a black cat following quickly behind him. Ren was only slightly clumsier in his movements, even with his handicap of no magic to help him.

Masato swung one leg onto his horse; he then helped Tokiya up to sit behind him. Otoya jumped onto the side of the horse and clung on to its neck. Masato raised an eyebrow at him.

“That’s really not the best way to ride on Shiro,” he said. “You’re going to fall off.” 

“I’m not,” Otoya said determinedly. “Now let’s go.”

Masato sighed, but flicked the reins. Shiro broke into a gallop, bolting down the path towards the bandit camp.

 

Syo grunted as he cut down another bandit. He had been separated from Natsuki several minutes ago; the only sign he had of his friend was the sound of Elizabeth growling and the dull  _ thunk! _ of metal hitting hardwood somewhere to his left.

Suddenly, he was knocked down by a hard blow to the head. His head pounding, he quickly flipped over. A bandit leered over him. The hilt of his sword was bloodied. Syo felt the back of his head. It was warm and sticky. The bandit raised his sword over his head to strike. Syo reached for his sword to defend himself, but he couldn’t find it. Glancing around, he saw it a few feet away; it had flown out of his hand when he had been knocked down. He turned back to face the bandit quickly. His vision was unsteady; everything seemed to be swaying around him. He couldn’t think. How did he move his limbs? Were they supposed to move to begin with? He thoughts seemed to move through a fog. The bandit sneered and brought down his sword. Syo closed his eyes and braced himself.

_ Splatch! _

Syo’s eyes flew open. The bandit had fallen back, a crossbow bolt in his neck. Syo looked behind him. 

Ren was crouching on a branch; he was holding a small crossbow with one hand and bracing himself against the trunk with the other. He smirked when he saw that Syo had noticed him.

“Need some help, ochibi-chan?” he teased. 

Syo frowned at him. Placing one hand on the back of his head, he closed his eyes and called on the power of the divine. The skin knitted back together under his fingers. His mind cleared, and he stood up.

“Get down here and do something useful,” he retorted as he dashed towards his sword. He snatched it up, just in time to parry a blow from a bandit who had attempted to sneak up behind him.

“So saving your life isn’t useful?” Ren swung down from the branch and landed lightly on his feet. Drawing his rapier, he snuck behind the bandit and drove the blade through the back of the bandit’s neck. “There is such a thing as  _ too _ much devotion to the gods, you know. I doubt it’s your time to go meet them yet.”

“You know what I mean.” Syo lunged forward, thrusting his sword into a chink of a bandit’s armor, and in between the ribs. A trio of bandits rushed them. All of a sudden, though, they stopped. A colorful wall of light flickered in front of them. They stood, mesmerized by the glimmering colors.

Cecil stepped up beside Syo, concentrating deeply. Syo nodded at him before dashing around the wall. The bandits paid him little attention as he swung his sword at one of them horizontally, slashing his throat. Ren took down the one on the other side before swinging around to aim his crossbow at an approaching bandit. Syo stabbed the middle one. He turned around quickly to search for Natsuki.

Natsuki and Elizabeth were holding their own fairly well. Syo stepped forward to go help them. Before he could, though, the thunderous sound of hoofbeats approached the camp. Masato burst in riding on Shiro. Tokiya - balancing on the saddle behind him - shot a beam of ice towards the bandits surrounding Natsuki, freezing some and scattering others. Otoya swung off of where he had been hanging from Shiro’s neck and flipped over the heads of the remaining bandits, landing beside Natsuki. They stood back to back, turning in a circle slowly as they fought their opponents.

Masato galloped close by Syo. Tokiya leaped off. He stood up briskly, dusting his robes off. He looked at Syo, giving him a quick onceover. 

“Seems like you’ve had a bit of a rough time,” he said drily. Syo looked down at himself. His armor was dented here and there, making it slightly difficult to breathe. There was a long gash going down his right arm. He looked back up and shrugged.

“I’ve had worse,” he said. “I’m just glad you guys heard the signal.” Tokiya smiled slightly.

“At least you’re still alive,” he replied. He formed a ball of fire in one hand. “Although we should probably pay closer attention to these bandits if we want to keep it that way.” Muttering a few indistinguishable words, he quickly flicked his hand up. An arc of fire rushed forward, consuming a nearby bandit in flames. Syo readjusted the shield on his arm and grinned. He sidestepped a swipe from a bandit behind him. Quickly cutting his foe down, he darted towards the fray.

“Way ahead of you.”

 

Otoya rolled to the side as he dodged a heavy blow from an axe. He had lost track of where Natsuki was a few minutes ago. One minute, they were fighting back to back. The next, Otoya was alone. The others were scattered around the camp. He could see Ren and Syo cutting down a group of bandits, with Tokiya and Cecil providing cover. Masato was circling the camp on Shiro, shooting down stray bandits with his longbow.

Otoya looked around, searching for the glint of metal armor. Their small party couldn’t fight forever, and the bandits would likely keep coming until their leader was down. 

As he scanned the battlefield, Otoya felt a dark presence loom up behind him. He spun around, barely lifting his sword to parry in time. He gritted his teeth as he struggled to keep the opposing sword from moving towards his neck. Unable to hold it away for long, he ducked and rolled to the right.

The bandit leader towered over him. He spun the greatsword in one hand easily. He scrutinized Otoya carefully.

“I see that you’re a swashbuckler.” His voice was low and gravely. It grated against Otoya’s ears like metal against glass. “You could do quite well in our group. What do you say? Abandon this pathetic little band of yours and join us.” Otoya shook his head forcefully.

“I will  _ never _ turn my back on them,” he spat. “Unlike people like  _ you _ , my strength comes from my friends.”  He raised his sword, pointing the blade towards his opponent’s neck. “Now fight me.”

The bandit leader shook his head. He raised his sword as well, touching the tip of his sword to Otoya’s.

“Shame. Now I’ll have to give you quite the painful death. Nobody goes against my offers like that and lives.”

He lunged forward. Otoya leaned to the side; he felt the metal barely skim over his cheek. He ducked down and went for an opening in the armor just below the chest. The leader knocked his sword down and went for Otoya’s head. Otoya darted around the leader to go for the back. He raised his sword to thrust it into a soft spot in the back. 

_ Thwack! _

He crumpled to the ground. The top of his head was throbbing painfully. Stars danced about in the corners of his eyes. 

Twigs crunched beneath a foot. Otoya turned over sluggishly. The bandit leader stood over him, the battle axe in one hand. The leader shook his head, sighing.

“You weren’t much of a challenge.” He almost sounded disappointed. “I honestly expected more from you.” He raised the axe. “I’ll get no pleasure from prolonging your death. The screams of the weak mean nothing to me any more.” He sneered. “Good-  _ gackt! _ ”

He was suddenly cut off. Otoya peered around him. A crossbow bolt was now sticking out of the man’s neck. An arrow quickly joined it. A stone ricocheted off the back of his head, followed by hail of smaller rocks. Two balls of fire hit him, one right after the other. He fell to the ground in flames. He didn’t get up again.

Otoya struggled to sit up. His head spun dizzyingly. He fell back again, panting. A couple moments later, he felt his arms being grabbed. He was pulled up slowly. Blinking, he struggled to focus on the person in front of him. The person said something, then placed one hand on Otoya’s hand. A gentle warmth spread from that hand. Otoya’s vision cleared. Syo was in front of him, his eyes tightly shut in concentration. Glancing to each side, Otoya could see that Ren and Masato were the ones holding him up. 

Syo removed his hand. Otoya gingerly attempted to stand up. The trees didn’t sway around him, and the pain from his head was gone. 

“You okay there, Ikki?” Ren asked.

“I’m fine.” Otoya grinned. “Thanks for saving me there, guys. I thought I was done for.”

“No problem.” Syo clapped Otoya on the back hard, making the both of them wince. Syo rubbed his wounded arm slightly. “We should probably get back to camp and patch up, though.”

 

They walked back to camp in a jovial mood. The sun had started to set over the trees by the time they arrived.

An ash gray horse looked up from where it was grazing. It whinnied slightly and trotted over to Syo.  It nuzzled him and nipped at his hair.

“Hey, hey, cut it out,” Syo said, chuckling. “I’m glad to see you, too, Ceciles.” 

Masato headed back over to the campfire. He poked at the stew and stirred it slightly. Nodding, he beckoned Tokiya over. Crouching by the extinguished wood, Tokiya conjured a flame. Placing the small fire ball on the wood, he straightened up and went over to the discarded supplies, where Ren and Otoya were extracting the tent from its canvas bag. Syo soon went over to help the three set it up. Natsuki and Cecil went around camp, patching up the various wounds the group had acquired in the battle.

After the stew finished, they sat around the campfire together. Laughter rang out from the circle as they ate their meal. All too soon, they finished. They cleaned up and packed away their cooking supplies before heading into the tent. One by one, they all fell asleep. 

Otoya was the last one awake. He stared out through a small gap in the tent, where a rope hadn’t been tied tight enough to the pole. Seven stars shone brightly together in a little cluster. Otoya smiled, then turned onto his side. His breathing slowed as he drifted off to sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> And now we start our epic adventure...  
> Well, not quite. We haven't met all our players, after all. 
> 
> (Also, if you're wondering why Syo's horse's name is so close to Cecil's... Syo lost a bet.)


End file.
